The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1887-05-21
A DISCOVERY LOST.

ceived a note from my friend Samuel
Paige Butler, asking me to call upon
him the following evening, provided
had no previous engagement, and give
him myIoplnion upon the beauty Of
piece Of Japanese porcelain ware,
which he had recently bought, and of
(which h$ was extremely proud. Mr..
I Butter i9a little less than forty years
OF age, l&ss wide experience with the
world. For ten years he lived In ia
pan and phina, after he had resigned
lieutenalicy III the navy, and Is thor
oughly pfoticient iii the history, ira
ditions and wri ten languages of both
nations.
The plato which I was summoned to
examine hnd criticise was Of HiZen
ware, VIII lch is among the old oldest Of
Japanese Iorcelains. It WAS larger by
one-haif glran' the usual porcelain
plaque. The face Of the plate was in
describaOlK rich in color. The back
ground whs dark green, over which
there were n raised enamel of purple
and gold igures Of beautiful birds,
whose gorE Eeous pIumage We'd with
hues OF the rainbow in brilllancy. The
reverse side OF the plate was dingy
brown in color and mottled with age.
"Ihis," said my friend after l had
expressed nay opinion OF the beauty Of
his purchase, 'is one Of the rarest
specimens OF porcelain l have ever
sscen. have seen but three pieces in
Japan any older. 1 bought it from a
Ignorant dealerI who got it from a
sailor and parted with it for a sum so
pitifully small that my conscience re-
preached me for accepting his offer,
and should have doubled his price if
l could have done SO without exciting
= his cnpidity TO such an extent that I
would have been utterly unable to pur-
chase 1T al any figure. 1t is my opinion
that it was made at least three CEN
turies ago, somewhere about the time
OF Taiko Sama, as Hideyoshi, the great
japanese statesman and warrior was
commonly called by his subjects. Dur
ing his sway the art Of making porce.
lain rose to Il high state Of perfection,
state Of desuetude and was revived
century later. In the island of Kin
shin this artitook it's origin, and at Hi
zen this plate was made. The pecu.
liar style Of tracery on the face proves
1t to have been manufactured there. In
those early days porcelains were de.
corated with painful care, and often an
artist would only live to fashion two
or three designs. as the monks of the
dark ages illuminated the pages OF
their Bibles. You Will notice the pa
tience Of the artist who painted this
plate. The drawing or these birds aud
the blending OF the colors could not
have taken him less than years Of pa.
tient toll" 4a
While Mr.. Butler was talking he
leaned the plate against the globe Of
his students lamp SO that we might
the better observe its beauty. After
discoursing for some time, upon the
manufacture of early porcelaln.--a sub.
ject in which he was deeply Interested
he reached for the plate to examine
it more carefully, but finding that 1t
bad become uncomfOrtably hot from
It's contact with the lamp he laid 1t face
downward OH the table to cool. 1t had
not been In that position many seconds
before we both noticed a change in its
appearance. The dingy brown surface
of the bottom of the plate had become
clearer and lighter in color, but what
astonished us far more was the appear
ance of certain indlstinct characters
'hich were rapidly fading away as the
late cooled. AS nearly as we could
,dge from our hasty inspection we